Heel protector



March 3; 1959 E. GROSSMAN 2,875,534

HEEL PROTECTOR Filed Sept. 26, 1958 Fig.

INYENTOR. EVELYN GROSSMAN ATTORNEY United States Patent 01 'ice HEELPROTECTOR Evelyn Grossman, Philadelphia, Pa. Application September 26,1958, Serial No. 7 63,644

2 Claims. (Cl. 36-72) Certain types of ladies shoes have always beenprovided with heels which are known as French heels and are highlytapered. Recently, the use of shoes of this type has increased and thetapering of the heels has increased until, currently, shoes are providedwith heels, the bottoms of which are about a quarter of one inch across.Such heels tend to get caught in the cracks in a board walk or in thespaces between the bricks in a brick pavement or in side walk grills,etc.

The object of my invention is to produce an auxiliary heel tip coverwhich can be readily applied to the bottom of the heel when it is neededand which can be readily removed from the heel when it is no longerneeded.

A further object is to produce an auxiliary heel tip cover which isextremely light, compact and inexpensive so that it may be convenientlycarried in a handbag and so that it may be discarded without any seriousloss in the event that the user does not care to clean and store it forre-use.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the followingspecification and the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a greatly enlarged top plan view of an auxiliary heel tipcover embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view showing the device applied to the heelof a shoe, the parts being shown only slightly smaller than actual size.

Fig. 3 is a slightly enlarged sectional view taken on line 3-3 on Fig.2.

Fig. 4 is similar to Fig. 3 but showing another embodiment of theinvention.

As will be seen from Fig. 2. the shank of the heel tapers downwardlyuntil the bottom of the tip of the heel is about one quarter of an inchacross. This makes walking on smooth, solid pavements difficult and itmakes walking on board-walks, or on brick pavements, or on rough roadsdifficult and dangerous.

People have occasion to walk on the smooth floor of a home or store, oron a smooth concrete side walk and may also have to walk on a stretch ofboard-walk, or brick pavement, and, in the absence of an opportunity tochange and in the absence of my invention, it will be necessary to weara broad tip heel at the cost of style or to wear a narrow tip heel atthe cost of comfort and safety.

In order to make it possible to wear a narrow heel shoe without regardto the type of pavement on which one may have to walk, I have devised acompact, inconspicuous and inexpensive heel tip cover which can beinstantly applied when needed and which can be instantly removed whenthe need for it ceases.

As shown in the drawings, the heel tip cover includes a side wall and abottom wall 12 which form a cupshaped member for receiving the tip ofthe heel. Side wall 10 is made of any desired material, but ispreferably 2,875,534 Patented Mar. 3, 1959 made of any light, tough andinexpensive synthetic ma terial such as polyethylene, nylon or the like,and is preferably made relatively thick to increase its wear capacityand support characteristics.

Coacting with the cup-shaped member described is an inverted cup-shapedmember formed of a side wall 14 which fits snugly within and issubstantially coextensive with side wall 10 as best shown in Fig. 3. Thebottom wall of the inverted cup-shaped member is slotted as at 15 toform segments 16 which are hingedly connected to side wall 14. Theinverted cup-shaped member is preferably formed of vinyl or otherflexible, resilient and elastic synthetic material and is molded so thatsegments 16 are normally disposed normal to side wall 14 as shown inFigs. 1 and 2. By this arrangement, when the cover is slipped over thetip of heel 18, segments 16 are folded downwardly as shown in Fig. 3,snugly and firmly to engage the tip of the heel to hold the cover inposition with the tip, or the lower end, of the heel resting on bottom12. To reinforce the construction a disc 20, of metal, or of any otherrigid material, is placed on, or is embedded in bottom wall 12.

The actual size of the device is only slightly larger than itsrepresentation in Fig. 2 and therefore it can be carried in a handbag soas to be available as, and when, it is needed. Also, it is very lightand can be applied by merely pressing the tip of the heel againstsegments 16 until the tip of the heel comes to rest against bottom wall12. When not needed, the device can be readily pulled off and stored or,being very inexpensive, it may be discharded.

The two parts of the device may be suitably secured together in anysuitable manner such, for example, as by staples 22.

In the embodiment of Fig. 4 the heel tip cover is shown as being moldedin one piece from rubber or other resilient and elastic synthetic ornatural, such as rubber, and includes bottom wall 16, side wall 12,segments 16 and reinforcing plate Ztl which correspond to the similarlynumbered parts of Figs. 1 to 3. In this construction bottom wall 12 isrelatively thick and side wall 10' and segment 16 are slightly taperedso as to facilitate folding of the segments as shown in Fig. 4.

What I claim is:

l. A detachable cover for the tip of a heel, said cover including abottom wall and a side wall coacting to form a cup-shaped member, andintegral segments folded across the top of said cup-shaped membergenerally parallel to said bottom wall, at least said segments beingflexible whereby, upon insertion of the tip of the heel into saidenclosure, said segments are folded downwardly into said cup-shapedmember and engage the sides of said tip.

2. A detachable cover for the tip of a heel, said cover including abottom wall and a side wall coacting to form a cup-shaped member, and aninverted cup-shaped member including a side wall adapted to fit snuglywithin the side wall of said cup-shaped member and with its bottom wallforming a closure which is disposed parallel to the bottom wall of saidcup-shaped member, the bottom Wall of said inverted cup-shaped memberbeing slotted to form segments which are foldable downwardly into saidcup-shaped member by insertion of the tip of the heel into saidcup-shaped member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,875,806 Givens Sept. 6, 1932

